for over a thousand years the russians have known that a good party needs don't sink down the centuries rich and poor alike have learned the steps put on their costumes and set off to find love patronage or simply a good time. in this suitably graham building almost two hundred people have gathered to perform the classics from the polonaise to the polka all in front of a live orchestra. you can't help but notice the effort that's gone into their appearance and although i wasn't the only one in my dress i did feel a little out of place. though i don't see much in the way of the sensory play thing but i do know one lady in there that they have to get the right heel for

a period maybe by arena. so we all look so beautiful costumes here. of course this ball here was first edited to the war of eighteen twelve it wasn't so much about russians they but it was the first such of them that was held after the war a certain degree of courage was required to hold the ball at that time this stance is where it all began. and with several events every year they're becoming very popular even if you're not experienced you are encouraged to join in and there are plenty of helpful partners waiting to show you the ropes. movement in music have always stirred the russian soul but now in the twenty first century more and more people seem to be learning these traditional courtly dances that hop back to a bygone age i wanted to find out what makes them so appealing to

a modern nor dns and how long it might take to get an absolute beginner to the book but. there's a school in moscow which claims it can teach anybody how to dance so i am going to put that theory to the test and apparently there are always sorts of men so hopefully this should be a place for. the rich are going to evening everyone today will learn the viennese waltz which you can dance at the ball roll. up it was time to start learning the basics the twiddling round by myself everything seemed pretty easy but a solo waltz wasn't exactly going to cut it take the lady's right hand good. the gentleman's right hand system a lady's left shoulder blade

a little closer to. the time. capsule. the. the as i fought the urge to stare at my feet and count out loud we made a few circuits of the room with only minimal damage to obvious toast. the idea is to get good enough to actually not look like a total idiot to the board. ok there we go just like the u.k. yeah fine. sorry that's not his have to give a traffic jam. or instructed demon has been teaching for the best part of twenty years and says he's never seen dancing more popular. though she was not the most because of it is important because whenever you go to any public place like a restaurant there's always room for dancing be just so you get

a feeling of confidence when you know that you can invite a lady to the dance floor. raise your hand. and get on with but i think that the first true taste for dancing only comes after three months of practice. and. unfortunately for me i didn't have quite bad blome if i was going to make it to another daunts i was going to need some serious help to have a question there's a pool coming up and i really need a partner. would you come with. a pink or wonderful. but sect myself a great of a heart but clearly i was going to have to get myself properly prepared for culture isn't just about dancing and i was going to have to brush up on my fashion and my etiquette.

most here we see the most authentic russian romanticism of this is a fake mc dress it's accentuated with the light shawl and hat only single women were allowed to have uncovered heads but it was pushed they had highly decorated hairstyles to married women whether at the ball or at home were required to wear half the summer they danced in the stress of balls. gathering us or some school if we look at the male costume we see that the dress code was colorful and return to the fashion scene in color courses the shirts of most of most. this is the costume for the middle of the nineteenth century. that's the sort of thing open look for. by this time they are wearing black coats and black trousers in comparison with very elaborate gowns for the ladies the men look like exclamation points bringing attention to female beauty. and want to remind you that you could make

a costume like that for me the core question of course brits. excuse me for a moment well this. is how the first history. of the courtrooms both on the one hand the bulwarks is the most democratic place. most of all you can invite anyone you like your boy dom so just but if you want to invite a lady who is standing next to a gentleman you should ask her standing in first ball yet the ballroom is also a very patriarchal place in the past jewels and russia work for big but there is one exception if someone stood on your partner's dress like that you were obliged

to challenge him to do it only in that instance did the emperor permitted just do it. at the corporation women were able to communicate with fans man you what was being directed at them. was was this the final why right arm to the heart without little point it means i love you. other movements had other meanings this one means i have no interest in when a lady does this it means she likes. you when the lady flaps her family like this that's your signal to invite her to dance. stand facing one another the gentleman takes

a step to the right. that is gentleman embrace your partner. already. but in the off the. us us. the. well step by step there's a lot of the excellent off. the rocks but you have wonderful shoes train is the best and they put me on that bus to boast or. do we are ok just try it in front of prince and that and yeah in the pride. that we do in a couple. it wasn't perfect but it was as good as it was going to guess and the next day i headed to a room is to pick up my cost you. know what

company are you we have a dress from the middle of the nineteenth century but that you know this hoop skirt is made of silk top and there's about nine leaders here at that time flowers were very fashionable just because now i'll show you my pride and joy this is a carnival down from the sixteenth century. from the old city it's all sewn by hand . all silk and silk and bordered fabric such a beauty. of the ball all of this beauty was exempted by the seriousness rigor and restraint in male attire. that's the kind of outfit we've got for you. so this is going to make me hopefully a fresh little gent of the scene fifty's now just to see if everything fits but it seems the trend of the day was for very small clothing. for those most of the best

needs to be tight even in paintings you'll see that the male figure i mean it's the females. and waist and the small chunks of big kids here ladies for most weekends. but. well for the next week. and like that. there we go finally feel oh i'm sick james the dandy you soul go to the ball. shows. the women of the time spent about six hours in hair brushing for the head dress i had to have a high level of professionalism in order to make such a hairstyle unless they used a shine to greek statues as models. style uses lots of walks and curls

and did these hairpiece holds these hair out of fashion we have spirals at the temples we scout it's a very romantic style and very playful. especially in dance even when a girl dances and flips her curls it's amazing. and. it's super wonderful thank you but you know you're ready for the ball and. we were dancing in the more of your old apostle museum a building that's over two hundred years old and that's recently undergone a long restoration by descendants of its former owners and amazingly everything

seemed to go off without a hitch. and i think. it would take a little break i think now that we finally got the walls out of the way without too many cups is that what's made you stick with it what you think you've got out here is that feeling down your meeting new people you're done in these ads. dear music everything together all together this type of donkey today you get used to it and you get addicted to it i am a boy that they think that. the house used to play host to the aristocracy of the intelligentsia i mean set me truth i'm in such all centered surroundings and among beautifully dressed people it's easy to lose yourself. and it's possible i

may have got slightly carried away. stuff. i did my own satisfaction. i begin.

gently rivals some decades. if you had fifteen thousand people killing each other in any other country there would be diplomats there would be a lot of. self-imposed costs from society i will contact myself chemical attack my brother understand my contacts. going to eventually attack the cause

of my anger and my frustration. that. two of the most violent gangs in u.s. history. is just all model killing chill with the colors matching the national flag. but this country uses violence when it reaches and then it legitimizes the violence they all made in america on the odyssey.

but. oh oh oh .

collar had been satisfied and as i rode back towards the twenty first century it was finally time to read a message i've been passed at the darts. james i'd like to invite you to join me at the first russian viennese ball in montrose switzerland it should be a memorable event if you like to attend please join me at the imperial tailoring company in moscow next monday at noon you'll need to pick out something elegant hope to see you there victor. there was no way i could pass up a chance like this viennese ball is renowned as the best event of the season and i knew that victor was one of the men in charge. now it might be a traditional ball but i don't think the eighteen fifty look is going to cut it in

switzerland so i'm here to meet up with victor and hopefully pick up something a little bit more. picture hi james stuff this is yeah well now we know she was a huge for you i've already chosen the one for me this one please. me had good taste it brought me to moscow's imperial tailoring company where they make some of the best clothes in the business. once. we think well well james you generally look really very good i think fits you perfectly but maybe some small items for example your trousers are longer right thing and maybe a fake some more buttons all. this was just yeah yeah but in general it's perfect and of course there's always a place or something we could always do best k.

right so of course i work ok. q. this is your theory that you look really perfect thank you very much well i don't think that daniel craig is anything to worry about but you can't help but feel a bit special it's something like this so what's up switzerland because we're coming to get. a few days in around two and a half thousand kilometers later i'd arrived in the small swiss municipality of montrose and it certainly didn't disappoint. when you use the room just to be very welcome to the film from on top of us so your room is really this is a room with mickey pick you wow this is a bit special isn't it a five star hotel for a five star event the comic. the viennese bull

has taken place in moscow under around europe since two thousand and three it's the brainchild of organizer alexander smuggler and i caught up with him to see why he decided to hold this one in montreaux. first of all we never did a ball in the life. we decided to do it and when we're choosing the place we consulted with some. partners from three of the swedes alonso they said that. look at montreal this is beautiful small town on the lake so i came here spatially to check the place i was impressed so we decided to make both here. more than twenty thousand people have attended aleksandr stances and each one has planned down to the last detail how much preparation goes into. was that mike that's you know it seems that it is very easy but

it is not so definitely. to make a real ball you have several levels of it but you have to bring distress to august first at least one thing for nick one just all just seemed gathers your craft to yak about catering to don's law in order people have to submit it to the dogs because of this is all. i could already tell it was going to be a member of the kazan and according to conduct alfred a very multicultural want to. do this evening is really very special because we have different problems to solve and we have singers from russia and we have a belly from russia and the officer from it tell italy and i'm from austria so it's an international event absolutely well we'll let you get back is also you need a script thank you very much take it away maestro thank you very much that.

was. passed. i think i can say without a shadow of a doubt that i could get used to this. is.

the guests were beginning to arrive but i couldn't resist one last trip to the hotel's engine room. well my nose has led me to probably the most important place in the hotel this evening the kitchen whether carrying all of these things for the ball so i could be a little bit careful because i want to get ten angry sets around me that could be dangerous. they're making four courses to feed four hundred guests so there's not much time to hang around admired their work then with lobster and white growled the menu so to say i was looking forward to dinner. taking my mouth water. time getting close. while more and more guests began the night with a glass of champagne i went to meet victor and it turned out he had a rather unexpected surprise in store. like i. told him

this is and this is my own thanks because as we're having money big problem we're liking the debutante at the moment would like to feel and maybe there are never enough men out there always so many beautiful women and never enough men yes my pleasure if you would if you will have a. great. buy had planned to hang back and take part in some of the big group dances this time and i was suddenly very nervous if this was the same years debutante ball it was more important than ever that i didn't mess up still at least i didn't have long to think about it. with dozens of couples performing the figure waltz we did have a few problems with traffic but with a few well timed walls we made it to b.n.

and then we could really enjoy ourselves. your loving life you know you do you know it might seem like you had a really pretty it's like in my case if you made so may help you. think i. think they. are going to conclude it's a good thing. but it certainly leaves you out of breath and it gave me a chance to chat with samia about why she had decided to become

a debutante met so many different younger people who seem to be taking to this what is it that appeals to this as opposed to you know the traditional kind of going out on a friday night listening in a culture that you know. sauce unleashes a fish and it comes to this question of the stuff we just aren't polite east also very interesting here because all of last night you know these are going to get a little bodies in silence. as the evening wore on the orchestra was replaced by a jazz band and the music became a little less classical but unsurprisingly no one seems keen to go home. i think the most revealing thing that i can say is i don't want this whole experience to end and maybe that's why people love dogs. so that is just pure my physical escapism along with i can see.

i didn't expect my journey into bowl culture to bring me this far but it'd been a fantastic adventure i'm to my surprise i actually don't think i'll be hanging up my dots and shoes and it's on its ear. we might be two hundred years old from the days of war and peace but there is still pools being held both here and abroad you can imagine even the test of a stove of the light to attack. the russian dawns tradition is alive and thriving my think. is to tolstoy would have been.

choose your language. of holy week over though in a financial planner there is still some honest. truth is that the consensus here can. choose to get the news that you think are great to. choose the stories that in times like choose the access to your office. ultimate. goal of a. good speech. and i. wish i.

bring along with. them on a minimal. amount of mine i'm a little. so. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and.